It's in the genes

During the Stalinist era, the predominant theory of inherited traits was Lysenkoism, which stated that traits gained in the environment, like obesity from overeating, can be passed onto the next generation. The Western theory of genetics, which proved correct, was that traits were passed by genes.

Now, it seems, some people are saying that Lysenkoism (or some other version) may not be false after all. To back up their theory, they're using data to show that overweight grandparents can have overweight grandchildren. Well, I think that's just a statistical fluke, because you can draw a link between any two sets of data. To prove that link, you must not just show a correlation or regression, you must also show a viable theory, as in how grandparents who overeat can pass their obesity to future generations.

To prove that link, you must not just show a correlation or regression, you must also show a viable theory, as in how grandparents who overeat can pass their obesity to future generations.

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Stanley, you have hit the nail on the head. A high degree of correlation points the researcher in a certain direction for further study. It is not confirmation of causality. That's why I laugh at these almost daily study announcements--BTW who is funding these things--purporting a link between two seeming unrelated factors.

Originally posted by DSL Dan Stanley, you have hit the nail on the head. A high degree of correlation points the researcher in a certain direction for further study. It is not confirmation of causality. That's why I laugh at these almost daily study announcements--BTW who is funding these things--purporting a link between two seeming unrelated factors.

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I think that you would have to read the actual research to see what was found. I believe that retention of wait is based upon multiple gene pairs at different points for the different biological mechanics that cause weight retention.

Interesting article in the Health section of last Monday's L.A. Times on the relationship between weight training and metabolism. Posits that calories can be absorbed by either fat cells or lean muscle cells. If there is no call for the latter, the "default setting" is for them to be stored in fat cells. Weight training creates a demand for lean muscle cells, so the calories never get routed to the fat cells. Notice not a single mention of genes nor the attribution of random victimization to obese people.